How To Melt Ice
by songwithoutreason
Summary: These Konoha shinobi set out on a mission to retrieve something they believe they had lost. But they also each found something similar but unique to each of them... the ability to melt the ice in a person's heart... PAIRINGS REVIEWED
1. Reacquainting

Hey!! Wow finally! My first Naruto Fic! Well anyway I'm very willing to take suggestions for this story etc but not with the pairings I've already decided, so for other pairings etc, I am willing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…

Summary: A hitch appeared in Orochimaru's plans; Sasuke didn't give into his immortality Jutsu. Giving Konoha Shinobi 3 more years. 5+1/2 years later they set out on their last hopes to 'bring him back even if it kills them.' Literally. Pairings inside. NaruHina. SasuSaku.TenNeji. SaiOC. ChoIno. ShikaTem.

JAPANESE TRANSLATIONS FOR SOME WORDS ARE AFTER THE CHAPTER 

_**Chapter 1: Reacquainting.**_

TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO 

Two shinobi stood in the center of a sinister room. Light was supplied in the form of monitors and flashing lights.

"Orochimaru-sama. Sasuke-kun's body and mind is not willing to take you in yet." Kabuto informs his master as Sasuke/Orochimaru screams in agony. After the blood-curling howl, there was silence, accompanied by the stubborn, persistent beeping of the medical equipment.

"Ka…Kabuto. How can he resist my just?" the snake sannin asked withering on ground and tearing at Sasuke's dark hair.

"Ah… I don't know…" the silver haired medical prodigy said unsurely.

"Well" Orochimaru said in a raspy voice, "fetch me another container to deal with for now"

"H-hai"

"Shizune! Sakura!" screeched Tsunade.

Body flickering into the round dimensions of the Hokage office. Two female figures, one brunette and the other with pink hair chorused a cheerful "Hai!"

"Round up Shikamaru Choji Ino Neji Tenten Hinata Kiba and Naruto and meet back here in half an hour! Oh and Sakura, bring Sai too."

The two apprentices exchanged a brief glance, nodded then with the slightest suggestion of a hand seal; they puffed out of the Hokage office.

Landing outside Naruto's quarters on the third floor of the ANBU department, Sakura flinched at the queer segments of information that found their way through the oak door. "Hina-chan my thing goes in the second hole down!"

Vein popping in her forehead she rapped on the door that opened to her right on whining hinges. The door opened to reveal a worn out Hinata.

"Sakura-chan!" she said surprised. "Ano, I'm just … h...here…to… help ah… Naru-kun clean up." Sakura smirked, knowing something was developing between her two friends, nothing dodgy, of course or else Hinata would not have being conscious enough to open the door. But how you ask? Hinata had stopped stuttering and fainting around her friends. In the end it was down to trust, the trust of knowing her friends won't judge her. But then again, when you have been of nearly two years worth of assassinations and S-rank missions with these same friends, you begin to trust them with your life.

Hinata blushed and shrived away from Sakura's amused smirk. As if reading each other's thoughts, Hinata sighed out of relieve as Sakura said:

"I'll drop it, for now."

"Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Naruto popping into the doorway, slinging one arm over Hinata's shoulder. No Naruto did not need to ask who was at the door. Footsteps were enough for Naruto, or any ANBU to tell the build and gender of anyone. In addition to that, Naruto had sharp senses that were only sharpened by the Kyuubi, so defining Sakura's familiar scent and voice was a basic simple task. Sakura's expression grew serious:

"Tsunade, now, non ANBU uniform." She glanced at her watch and her seriousness flew out the door. "OH CRAP! I've wasted five minutes talking. Still got to get Neji Tenten and Sai, Kami-sama, its going to take years prying Sai off his latest work."

"Training ground two 'Kura-chan!" Hinata said waving, as Sakura flew down the stairs.

"Tired?" a man with long brunette locks asked a huffing women sitting up against a tree.

"Hai" Tenten smiled, despite being exhausted from the spearing. 'Neji's displays of emotion were never more than one or two words.' Tenten thought with a soft chuckle that bounced the buns on her head. 'But they were always genuine. He would never stutter, even when portraying his emotion. He has only acknowledged one female in his life like that, and I'm not going to let him regret it."

Dropping down against the roughness of the tree. He asked, smiling every so slightly:

"What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing" came the short reply. Tenten bit her scarlet lips to refrain herself from giggling. She loved it when he was in a playful mood, well as playful as an ice cube, well melting ice cube can get. And because the moods never came often, all the more reason to treasure them.

Neji turned to her, his pale lean fingers made to tickle to force an answer when Sakura flew in, and the good mood flew out, again.

"I just seem to be disrupting everyone's moments of intimacy today" she muttered loudly, making the pair at the tree flush a reflection of the hair colour of the girl standing in front of them.

"But it seems Neji's clicked! Took you a while!" The colour deepened on the female's tanned visage. The male how ever turned to her with a confused gaze, which she ignored, knowing it would contribute more to her blushing. Sakura noted the reaction and sighed, maybe she was moving them along just a tad too fast. Sakura cut Tenten off as the female at the tree made to protest.

"Hokage, non ANBU." Then the pink hair kunoichi took off again to try and drag Sai out of his workshop. Note key word: TRY.

Waiting for him to finish running on his spark. She reminisced about her relationship with the dark haired shinobi. They had a thing going for a while. Until they both realized they were just trying to replace the gapping wound that people of the past have left behind. Sakura, without a doubt, bled agonizingly for the one and only, Uchiha Sasuke. But no one knew whom it was that Sai loved, still loved. This was before Danzou cleared Sai of his emotions. Everyone, including Sai, had a childhood, a taste of love sometime in his or her life. Proof of this was a beautiful pink ribbon. Made of loosely knitted strings of shimmering thread. This slightly worn band of material was always tied at the end of his favourite wolf haired brush.

Sakura was admiring his second named painting as he came in, arms supporting a barely started third.

"Tsunade now or we'll be la-…" she never did finish her sentence. The last syllable died in her throat. The treetops that grazed the top of the canvas seem to move with the silent night breeze. The leaves glistening in the mercury moonlight hit too close to home, toxic to her eyes. It was that night. That night that he left her on the bench. Sensing her discomfort, Sai brought her out of her thoughts.

"We don't want to be late or else Hime-sama will throw a fit." Sai graced her with a real smile. They were beginning to be as frequent as Naruto's feline grins.

Tsunade nodded to Shizune and she exited the room in a small cloud of smoke.

"Alright my best ANBU squadrons! Sasuke-" The fifty year old blond sweat-dropped at the immediate reaction to the word. The five shinobi that originally went on the Sasuke retrieval mission somehow all found themselves a corner to sulk in, in the Hokage's circular office.

Sakura looked as if she was caught in Kurenai's worst Genjutsu. You can imaging your own facial expressions.

The door slammed open. Revealing a familiar trio. A sandy blonde, a tubby male with magenta face paint and a red head. The people already in the room adjusted into a line following the side of the Tsunade's desk.

"Kazekage-sama." Tsunade acknowledged with a dip of the head.

"Hokage-sama." The red head replied in the same professional fashion. Then followed just pure simple silence. Comfortable reassuring sile-

"Oh drop the keigo you two!" Naruto cried out, unable to contain himself any longer.

One of Neji's perfectly formed eyebrows twitched in annoyance at the disturbance of the precious silence he was enjoying. It must have been comical, as Tenten, who normally had flawless self-control, utterly failed to suppress a giggle.

Neji flicked her a sharp hit on the arm with the back of his hand.

As payback, Tenten was going to clap him hard on the back, but found her consciousness did not allow her to do so.

So she bit him instead. Just a nip of the shoulder, which she tiptoed to reach. Tenten smiled, proud of herself, oblivious to the stares and the silence that her actions bestowed upon the room. Neji's other eyebrow twitched, over his left eye.

"I-"

Twitch

"-Tai"

He said indifferently. He starred at Naruto in his adjusted orange jumpsuit, who was staring in disbelief at Tenten.

Silence.

Naruto cracked again under the pressure of silence.

"GARRA!" he shouted, happily wrestling the Sand siblings into a hug.

"OK!" Tsunade begins. Her amber gaze shifted from one pair of eyes to the next. "As you know. This is our last chance to bring Sasuke back, a miracle won't happen again like last time. The only reason why Orochimaru's," she spat out the name, "Furou fushi no jutsu is because Sasuke had lived his life to kill Uchiha Itachi and restore his clan, but having not have succeeded at revenge, his will was the thing that kept Orochimaru out. For this mission you will travel in three ANBU squadrons."

"ANBU?" Sakura questioned, looking pointedly at the Suna Shinobi.

"And what about Gaara's Kazekage duties?" identical jade eyes glanced back at her.

"Iie, I do have duties to attend to, but Kankuro and Temari will be accompanying you." His face held an apologetic smile.

"Then," Sakura pressed on, "we're missing-"

Shizune came in, cutting her statement short. She had finally decided to use the door.

"She's on her way here" the brunette's statement was meet with confusion.

As if waiting for that cue, a small tornado like structure that seemed to contain all five chakra elements, materialized in, then out of the room. It left behind a feminine figure. The person was clad in the black of an ANBU uniform. But it was no uniform they had every seen.

For starters this person's mask had no markings.

_**A/N:**_

Sumimasen, but I'm not going to explain things such as ANBU and Konoha or Suna, unless people want me to…

Hai – Yes

Kami Sama – God

Gomen (ne) – sorry

Keigo- formal speech… (Around those lines any way)

Iie – no.

If I have forgotten anything or if any part of the story is unclear or problematic please do not hesitate to say so!!

Suffixes – I know that calling someone with out suffixes means you are VERY close to them. So I'm going to make people except family and really close people, use suffixes and except when people use full names. This might actually get a bit confusing…

GOMEN NE!! I realize that Neji seemed really OC in this chapter, but he really has 'melted' to put it metaphorically, well melting… I couldn't have him nudging Tenten because that would have being too out of character in my point of view, the sharp flick illustrated his mental sharpness and vaguely rugged personality. Lol wow that sounded smart!

Oh and I am trying to portray my character, Yumeko, as absolutely awesome but she isn't all invincible awesome, but she is above the rookie nine and Gai's team's usual level. But just remember EVERYONE is really strong now, as they are Tsunade's elite ANBU shinobi. Oh and LEE decided to be a normal Jounin following in Gai's footsteps, but he might go and back the three squadrons up…

Please remember to review!!

That little button down there has your name on it!!

Lol

STORY TO BE CONTINUED… 

_Chapter Two Preview:_

"Sakura, this is your final member." Tsunade said, some what glowing with pride.

"Kakashi-senpai had that mask before!" The Konoha ANBU elites chorused.

Kawaii Kunoichi 


	2. Kizuna

Hey!! Ok, the metaphorical 'ice' in the title refers to some of the characters. It's based around the pairings… I know that I paired Choji and Ino together but I'm going to take votes for who else people would like Ino to go with, I had someone voting for Ino/Sai, but I'm sorry Sai's going to stay with my OC. Now in this chapter I think you'll find out who the masked person is!! Lol oh and to Christina I couldn't reply to you review sorry!!

**OMG I realized I made a BIG BIG BIG mistake!! KIBA WAS NOT CALLED INTO TSUNADE'S OFFICE!! **

Enjoy this chappie!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! But this new person is my own original character! So please ask before using lol if anyone will be using her... lol hehe.

_**Chapter 2: Kizuna (-bonds-)**_

"Sakura. This is your final member." Tsunade said, somewhat glowing with pride.

"Kakashi-sensei had that mask before!" Naruto exclaimed.

"When Kakashi-sensei rejoined ANBU with us, he was appointed the captain…" Sakura trailed off piecing together the facts.

"Yes, I've being captain for three days exactly, so I haven't gone round to checking on your floors yet, Gomen ne." her voice sounded so tranquil, that laugh that accompanied that statement was like a bird singing in the forest outside Tsunade's sunlit window.

"Kakashi-senpai had a red line close to the edge of his mask on the right." This statement startled everyone. Seeing the shock settle in, the girl continued.

"I only noticed when we were signing the hand over paper work. He does have a gorgeous face though don't know why he wears that mask." She finished off contemplating that thought. Sakura and Naruto remembered their fruitless attempts to see beneath their silver haired Jounin sensei's mask.

"It's a secret!" their new ANBU captain said, reading the expression, you could hear the cheek bouncing off her words. Walking to the start of the line, she counted off each person's name.

Beginning in front of Naruto, she cupped his chin with a rather tiny hand. She stood just below the height of his one meter seventy seven.

"The Jinchuuriki…" she whispered. Naruto tensed at this and Hinata's chakra level flared. The veins that signaled the appearance of the Byakugan started to crawl across her face.

"No Byakugan, then you can see under my mask. I want it to be a surprise Hinata-sama." She said brightly, but the warning was clear. She chuckled slightly, turning back to the tanned face in her hand.

"But I suppose you and others prefer Uzumaki Naruto. So do I." she paused before moving on, passing Hinata. "Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino." She continued nodding at each of them. "Akimichi Choji. Hm… _Hyuuga _Tenten." She said teasingly then moved on again.

"Neji and Sai." She breathed out solemnly. The mood in the room darkened as everyone noted the non-existent last names and lack of suffixes at the end of their names. Neji's violet tinted pearl eyes widened as he recognized her faint magnolia scent and the hairstyle, including the pink ribbon, he was still doubtful however. Sai's artist hands subconsciously went to the hip pouch that contained his painting necessities. He fingered the ribbon tied to the end of his favourite wolf haired brush.

The nice atmosphere was disrupted.

"Shizune! I bet you a week's worth of Sake that she had to look at them twice! If I win I get double this week." Tsunade challenged.

"And I bet once! If I win you go with out for the week!" Shizune accepted. The two looked at her expectantly.

The still unknown kunoichi shook her head with a laugh and said:

"Gomen ne Tsunade 'baa-chan." She apologized. Everyone laughed at the expression that dawned on the older women's face. No Sake for a week. One word; utter disbelief. The masked person turned back to face them and noticed three extra people.

"Oh Sumimasen Kazekage-sama. Temari-san. Kankuro-san." She apologized then greeted. They each nodded in response.

"You know you can take your mask off. No strangers here." Tsunade said after a pause, having regained her posture.

"Hai" the younger kunoichi said complying with the order.

Her hand reached and drew away the piece of metal that disguised her as a wolf. Gasps rung through the room. Naruto breathed out in a stage whisper:

"Haku."

He was almost right. They looked facially identical, except this 'Haku' standing before them had the top section of her onyx hair tied back with a pink ribbon that a few in the room recognized.

She wore the usual ANBU uniform shoulder-less top. But hers was decorated and adjusted with pale cobalt ribbons. The skirt and black tights resembled that of Sakura's pre-ANBU attire. Over the knee length black tights that hoisted a slit on the two outsides. The slits were bounded back up with the same ribbon used on her top, finished down the end with a butterfly bow. Then a wavy length skirt dominated the view from mid-thigh up. The most important difference was, her eyes.

This 'Haku's' amber eyes were specked with odd grains of a pearly mauve.

"Actually-" she begun, "-its-"

"Hyuuga Yumeko" Sai said, in a voice barely more than a whisper.

Silence followed that announcement. All of the younger generation was surprised.

"Hyuuga?" Sakura asked turning to Hinata. Hinata stared at the newly revealed face; she shook her head in reply to her pink haired friend's question. This girl was vaguely familiar, but nothing of specific detail came to mind.

"NANI? What are you? You can't be any older than us!" Naruto burst out.

"No." she said with a easy smile and laugh.

"I'm-"

"Sixteen" Neji informed. His milky eyes seemed to water. This alarmed everyone and forced him or her to take a step away from the weirdly behaving Hyuuga.

Never. Never. Never before have they seen so much emotion betrayed by his face. Not even Tenten.

"Arigato Kami-sama. You're alive," Neji said into her hair as he eloped her in am embrace. The younger girl pouted.

"I can take care of myself now." Unhappy about been cut off by Sai then him.

Tenten stiffened at their intimacy. Contemplating the facts, she pieced 'Hyuuga', and Neji's sudden display of emotion as, engagement or worse marriage. It was irrational, but then at that time, her mind was working irrationally.

She knew the Hyuuga family tree like the back of her hand. She could recite every name upon sight of that person. Why? All for what purpose?

Neji.

The Hyuuga prodigy. He was just that to everyone else, the cold-blooded Hyuuga prodigy. But to her he was so much more. More than an acquaintance. More than a team member. More that a friend.

He was her world. No, he was more than her world.

On autopilot, she walked out the door. Neji turned to the door as it clicked into place.

He felt guilty. But he had done nothing wrong. He knew that, Yumeko knew that, so did the Hokage and Shizune. But then why did this feel as if he was sleeping with out a blanket. Bitter. Icy. Depressing.

He knew what expression Tenten would be wearing, that utter blank expression, devoid of her usual smile that lit his small world. She was the candle in the middle of his wintry arctic. And he had once made a promise to be the hands that shielded that flame from the wind. That was a mutual understanding between them. An unspoken bond.

_Kizuna_

"'Nii-chan, go after her." Yumeko said softly. She pulled away gently and shoved him to the door. "She's been waiting long enough for an explanation." Exchanging last minute smiles, he exited the room.

Ino sighed at the irony. If only Tenten stayed just a fraction longer. But no one was going to bring up the subject of Neji or the new Hyuuga around her if they valued their life. They would just have to do it themselves.

The blonde knew how it felt to lose someone you love. Although she knew her and Sasuke been together was never even in question. Hey, it was worth giving it a good try. And even then, the feelings she harbored were only those of a simple crush. It didn't a genius like Neji to figure out Tenten liked, no wait, loved him.

You could see it in her tender hazelnut eyes. The bright smiles she would always cast his way. And also oh so ironically, the Hyuuga protégé was, to put it lightly, extremely retarded when it came to love. Not to mention he has retarded social skills, but Ino will bitch about Hyuuga Neji and his retarded-ness another day.

That Hyuuga boy is so lucky Tenten's a tomboy. And he was lucky for that in more ways than one.

The typical blue-eyed blonde knew that as soon as Sakura was sorted into Sasuke's team that she was out of the running. She played along anyway. Anyone who knew her well enough knew that her saying "I can't let you steal all the glory in front of Sasuke-kun," was just a cover up. Since the day that they were sorted into sannin teams, there had been a mutual understanding, unspoken but stronger than any that had ever been spoken. This was Ino and Sakura's bond as rivals, females, and most importantly, sisters.

Their unbreakable _Kizuna_.

"Hinata-sama and I will fill Neji and Tenten-san in on the details later, ne?" Yumeko asked turning to the Hyuuga heiress. Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Alright then!"

_To be continued…_

**THIS AUTHORESS NOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT!!**

I love it when Fanfiction authors put '_To be continued..._' lol I don't know why, its funny. XP

Right now I'm just catching up on the development of different people's developments and the main changes. And as I have either told you or you have noticed I just adore TenNeji!! Lol :P

Next chap will be their little talk (Tenten and Neji)and Yumeko's past begins to be revealed!! Be prepared for a lil' tiny bit of what resembles fluff in the next chapter between Neji and Tenten!!

Please Review!! I'd really appreciate it!! Lol oh and did I mention this is my first Naruto fic?? I'm so into this fic that I'm putting my CCS fic on hold!! -cries- lol.

Don't for get to vote on who Ino should go with!!

Ino/Kiba

Ino/Lee

Ino/Shino (lol they rhyme)

Or

Ino/OC

If you want an INO/OC then you could take a stab at what the title of this fic means, meaning you have to guess correctly what the ice means and at least two names of people the ice stands for. AND you have to guess how you do melt the ice :P who gets it right will get an OC character in this fic!!

Lol and if that person didn't want INO/OC then they can just have a normal OC or can decide something in the story:P

Oh and I had suddenly a really good idea about how to end the three ANBU squad and Sasuke's fight!! Lol so I stayed up for two nights till four in the morning getting down the last half of the fight… or maybe last third…. Some one does die in the fic!! And it appears to be more than one character…and that was five refill pages, that translates into ten Microsoft word pages… this is going to be a long fic by the looks of it… then they have to get back to Konoha for the &$# well those who are left anyway…

Hehe teasing you aren't I!

Ok I'll stop.

I'll only let one character die if you review!! KEKE blackmail gotta love it.

Thanks for reading!

_Kawaii-Kunoichi_


	3. Introductions

ELLO!! How is everyone! The third chapter is up! Enjoy!

_Recap: Chapter 2: Kizuna_

"_Hinata-sama and I will fill Neji and Tenten-san in on the details later, ne?" Yumeko asked turning to the Hyuuga heiress. Tsunade cleared her throat._

"_Alright then!"_

_**Chapter 3: Introductions**_

_Melted ice turns into water_

Neji found his chocolate haired friend walking out towards their old training ground.

They stopped sparring here since they joined ANBU and resided in the ANBU department hidden just behind a thin section of the mountains behind Konoha. They shared the same floors along with the other shinobi in the Hokage office. The fourth floor, the females, and the third floor, the males. The valley the 5 floor building sat in branched out into the forests, where a barrier, 15kms away sealed away that see won of the forest just for them. The forest was then seated twice into quarters. Thus training ground one; two, three and four were created.

Tenten had settled in a branch halfway up a tree. Her expression contorted every so often, yet her eyes held none of their usual spark.

Neji felt his chest wretch at her pain.

Despite common believe, Neji was not as retarded as people thought when it came to feelings. Yes it meant he did know of the feedings Tenten nurtured for him. He loved her. As a friend. He was faultlessly certain of that.

But he was like his relatively new friend, Sai, who was just learning about a different type of love, platonic love. Settling behind Tenten's feminie frame, he smoothed Tenten's hair, feeling him behind her, she stood up and made to escape. A large, placid hand reached and caught her own. And with a rough tug, pulled her down.

The sun begun to tumble gracefully behind the trees and the mountains.

"Tenten." Neji's euphonious voice broke through her daze, some light returned to her hazelnut orbs.

"You and I both know there are some things, which I just wouldn't say. But one thing I am sure of and can admit is that, I maybe faintly socially retarded as Ino puts it, but I am not insensitive to the emotions of those around me. Yumeko is the only person alive that gave me love. In my childhood, the only forms of love I received were from father and her. Father offered paternal love. But she offered and gave so much more. Yumeko was a friend, a little sister, and more. She was there when otou-san died. She was always there until they took her." He sounded nervous, pouring his heart out to her.

"That's why you were so keen to join ANBU. You had no other way to find information on her whereabouts." Tenten said. Her heart shattered like a water droplet that had impacted against a solid surface.

Broken 'shards' of the liquid flew everywhere.

The two sat facing each other at arms length. The man was trying to sort his feelings. The female stressed about keeping her known feelings in check. Tears stung from beneath her eyes, filled her swelling rims and threatened to fall out.

"I...a…Love is my emotional blind spot. I don't know platonic love. Even if I did know what felt like, I wouldn't know who to give that love to. Like Sai. I am just learning. Would you… wait?" Neji asked. Pled laced his voice. Tenten's head snapped up to face him. Byakugan eyes drew her into a hypnoses, she could always get lost in them.

"You will be the first to hear of my decision." He said.

Water from the melting ice cube fell and begun to form a puddle. It spread and gathered the granular pieces of the shattered droplet.

In the right way, a heart can be mended as easily as a water droplet.

But the Ice and the water had different 'decisions' in mind.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

We'll all return to headquarters, meet in the fifth floor. It shall be open by then. Kai San!" The ANBU shinobi left with the Suna siblings whom were staying at the head quarters for the mission.

"Bye 'Baa-chan, 'Nee-chan." Yumeko said.

"You'd better tell them soon." Tsunade warned.

"Yeah I know." As she left, a shadow cast over her eyes.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

As the group of ANBU Jounin climbed the dimly lit stairs to the fifth floor, they began to wonder. No one from their group had ever been there before. What. Why, and other questions filtered through their mind. A door stood immediately after the last step. Everyone had unwarily sucked in a breath as Naruto boldly slid the rice paper screen door to the side. Sunlight. It caused the rice paper screens on the other side to lit on fire. Yumeko sat in the center of the room. She smiled, looking ethereal with the light behind her.

"Welcome to the fifth floor!" she said happily.

"This was where the ANBU orphanage was. Bit I had Kakashi-senpai arrange them so they could try and grow up in a normal environment at the Konoha orphanage. Most of the children were outsiders, brought in by members of the ANBU. Sai and I were raised here from a young age." This final floor looked like a very traditional judo. Rice paper walls framed by cherry wood. Wooden floorboards. The two walls at the side were filled with racks that held weapons. Sword stands hosted different swords of different weight style and length. They stood poised at the corners of both the walls.

Tenten gasped at the different sheens of different metals used to create the masterpieces. The buns of her head bobbed crazily as she spotted a meter long blade. "A three foot Katana made of steel, zinc and iron for dry conditions!" she squealed running up and down the walls cradling the word like a newborn baby.

"Weapon specialist ne?" Yumeko said sweat-dropping. Everyone else just nodded dumbly.

"Tenten…ah…Tenten?" the bi-colour eyed girl called, unsure of what to do. Neji sighed.

"Tenten." He called firmly.

"Hmm?" she asked, appearing with sparkling eyes, right under his nose. 'Talk about mood swings. Recovers fast enough.' The male Hyuuga thought. He thought back to her gloominess perhaps just minutes ago. Yumeko coughed for attention.

"My own collection. Over my entire lifetime." Yumeko explained.

"ANBU missions pay up well as you guys know." She pointed to the wall on the right where the weapons all looked relatively new. The original rust proof shine still gleaming on many of them. They were less chipped and worn that the left wall.

"Oh…" Tenten said disappointed. Of course, if it had belonged to the ANBU then she would basically have the blade she clutched in her hands. She wielded all her weapons like an extension of her arm. Yumeko smiled at her auburn haired senpai's somewhat childish expression. "You can of course come up here to use these, anytime, all of you." She said.

"In fact, you can have that Katana, I've had it since I was seven, its in fair condition, grips a bit worn. I'll go get new bandage for It."

She walked to the left wall and tugged on a gold ring embedded in the wall. Five more rings followed the first ring across the wall. They went unnoticed at first, due to the fact they blended in so well with the weapons.

She rested a hand up on the wall and leaned against it.

"Tenten-san. What colour?"

"AH! No I couldn't" the chocolate haired Kunoichi said.

"No, I was going to replace it anyway, I have a feeling it would do better in your care."

The others just watched the happy exchange between the two. 'They seem to get along well.' Neji thought.

"Despite growing up in the same conditions…"

"She's so much nicer that Sai." Naruto finished the sentence for the pink haired girl. Under any other circumstances, on any other day. Sai would have cast a zoo of animals on the two.

But this was no ordinary day.

Tenten's bobbled drew attention to a miniature kunai. The material was a smoky silver. The amethyst coloured bandaging was worn though with holes but still not replaces. Sai recognized it in its humble state and gasped. This effectively drew Neji's attention as he was standing beside him.

Pallid eyes turned to stare at the same thing. 'Himeko-san's kunai, her only heirloom.' The Hyuuga contemplated.

Tenten and Yumeko returned, after bandaging the grip a soft maroon.

"Well" the younger female begun.

"We're going to spar in here against each other with partners." Each pair of eyes flickered to different people.

"Assigned partners" Yumeko emphasized. Pouting could be seen and soft groans and sighs of protest breached the air.

"But first we'll learn a bit more about each other, for my benefit which also benefits the team. And also for me to gain an understanding of what we're up against." She led them into the middle and sat in a circle.

The sun was slowing disappearing and the room dimmed.

"I'll start. I'm Hyuuga Yumeko. Sixteen and enjoy seeing people smile and completing missions. Dislike seeing people cry, hurting people and killing without reason. My dreams for the future…try to complete as many missions without killing anyone." Then she turned her attention to her left expectantly.

"Your turn Uzumaki-san" Naruto sweat-dropped uncomfortably.

"Ano… Naruto is fine." He said.

"Me too, just Sakura" she piped up from beside him. Similar calls of agreement rung through the room. The young Hyuuga smiled.

"Hai!" she said blissfully.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Seventeen. Loves Ramen, hates people who make fun of my friends or me. I wish to be the Rokudaime!" The blonde had finished off determined; the strength and confidence still rung resoundingly in everyone's ears. Everyone smiled, whether in approval, encouragement or understanding, they all cheered him on,

Hinata smiled, reminiscing about the first time she heard him say that.

_His short blonde had seemed to stand on end from anger as people laughed at his pathetic attempt at a Bunshin No Jutsu. He declared his dream to the academy students only to be greeted with more laughter. Sullen and depressed he grudgingly returned to his seat, head bowed, eyes cast over with an ominous shadow. His dream seemed to only ever remain as a dream. An empty shell of abstract thoughts; no hope, no promise._

'Now it seems, Naruto-kun, anything is possible.' She thought, eyes tracing his face.

His hair had darkened slightly, turning just a tiny shade darker. It had grown to just past his ears, not yet as long as the Yondaime's. His Konoha forehead protector now resided on his upper right arm. Sasuke's hung from his waist, a constant reminder for him and the rest of them. Its presence drove them to work harder, surpassing their genkai and still remain standing.

Sakura decided to go next.

"Haruno Sakura. Seventeen. I love my friends, and shopping with Ino-pig. But I despise Ino-pig her self." The pink haired female teased. Then her expression darkened.

"And my dream is to…-"

"-Bring _Sasuke-kun_ back?" a cold voice cut in. The eyes of the group widened as they stared at the source.

…_To be continued…_

Hay! How is everyone! Here in New Zealand we're starting school soon! I'm starting on Thursday but I have the next chapter basically ready to by typed up. It might take a bit longer than usual… so I'm just going to apologize before hand.

Oh and I realized that my characters seem to be nodding lots and smiling lots… if it gets too annoying tell me please!

For people looking for Choji/Ino it won't be coming for a long time! Gomen!

**Translations:**

Genkai – limit

Kai San - kind of like a 'we're done here now split up.'

Well hope you enjoyed that chapter! More Neji/Tenten next chapter! Lol a little tiny bit of one-sided Hinata/Naruto. Don't worry!! More fluff soon!! I am really stuck on how to write HinaNaru…

Again SasuSaku is coming, but of course Sasuke has to appear first.

Please review! Thanks for reading!!

Signing off

_Kawaii Kunoichi_


	4. Training

Hey!

Lol School just started and I have got some of the most strict teachers in the school… lucky me… strict teachers also come with homework! YAY! ------(Sarcastic).

Well… I'm still stuck on ideas for NaruHina because every idea I have… fits TenNeji SasuSaku or SaiYume better…

**_IDEAS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!!_**

And I will credit them to the people who did come up with them!

But I will try to develop NaruHina the not so cliché way. I personally like some of the cliché-ness but not too much… so cliché ideas are more than welcome too!!

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… sniff sniff**

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**Chapter 4: Ebilness (evilness)**

"-I wish to-"

Kakashi pops in to the room

"-Bring Sasuke-kun back" he started off, voice hard.

"So I can ravish him!" he finished with a grin. Ex-ANBU members were allowed back at the base anytime.

Silence.

Everyone stared at Kakashi…'cause he's just so random…

'How can he read my thoughts?' Sakura thought frantically.

"I'm Kakashi. But you all know that. My goal-"

"Is to read all the smut on the planet!" Sakura cut in.

"Why Sakura how did you know?" the silver haired Jounin asked, mild surprised tainting his words.

Silence…

Stare…

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NOW THE REAL CHAPTER 4 EBILNESS TURNED NICENESS Recap 

_"Haruno Sakura, 17, loves my friends and shopping with Ino-pig but despises Ino-pig herself. And … I wish-"_

_"To bring Sasuke-kun back?"_

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_**Chapter four begin**_

"To bring Sasuke-kun back right?"

Yumeko cut in. she said it with a drawl that said 'could you get more predictable?' the pink haired kunoichi flinched.

"Oh don't you start crying or you will be with drawn from this mission." This statement from the youngest kunoichi thickened the atmosphere.

"What did the Uchiha always say about you and your pathetic crying huh?" Yumeko continued to taunt. Killing intent leaked from the various shinobi sitting in the room. Sakura was a good friend that had saved their asses countless times. They were not going to let her be emotionally attacked.

"Haruno. Do you think your crying will bring him back? It didn't before and I don't see why it should now."

"Because we want him to see what he has missed out on, not what he does not miss." She emphasized her point by giving her a firm stare. This cleared the mist-thick tension

"I think we'll stop the introductions there. We should get as much sparring in as possible and I want to conserve candles. Questioning glances were been passed around after Yumeko said that.

"Sakura-san. You are strong, physically. But you need to learn to keep yourself in check emotionally."

"I have studied your profiles, so unless you have suddenly changed drastically within the last seventy-two hours, I should think well have no problems with the plan I have in mind. I'm going to have you working in pairs. Each person will be working on his or her partner's weakness. Tenten-san and Neji, stay behind for a second to let me catch you up on the details. Naruto-san, Hinata-chan, you are together. Naruto-san, could you work on deflecting and avoiding Hina-Chan's Juken hits."

"You take on most of the hits your opponents throw at you. If it wasn't for the Kyuubi's remarkable healing abilities, you'd be long dead. But been injured hinders your movements and so when all your chakra has been closed off, come see me. Hina-chan, Naruto-san will try and find the Byakugan's blind spot, he needs to work on observation. But you need to practice hitting vital organs quick, fast and effectively. The only way to do that without needing to use up Sakura's chakra for healing is Naruto-san's Kage Bunshin. He can create the most and last the longest. Start with ten Kage Bunshin and increase the number by ten each time all of them are dispelled, until your chakra is close off.

"Oh and you are welcome to use any of the weapons on the walls and please don't hit anyone on another group…or face severe punishment…" an ebil glint passed through the bi-coloured irises in Yumeko's eyes.

"H…Hai" the two ninjas said shakily, and found them a corner to begin with in the one thousand square meter dojo. Then the harlequin orbs turned to Shikamaru, Ino and Choji.

"Actually, I want you to practice the 'Shika-Ino-Cho' formation. Practice on Temari and Kankuro. Then you two can go around the other groups to get a feel of each person's different fighting styles. Gaara-sama can you help me supervise? And help in when you can is that alright?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Hn."

She smiled.

"Arigato."

He looked away.

"Ah."

The elder siblings sweat dropped.

"Still not so good with strangers." Temari noted, observing the exchange.

"Mmmhmm" Kankuro agreed, nodding blankly.

"Now Sakura and Sai!" Yumeko called. The large group of five plus one walked off. Taking that as their cue to leave. Gaara begun to switch back and forth between the two groups.

"Sakura-san, you fall victim to been attacked by multiple enemies. Sai will draw what he feels appropriate and have them attack you, beginning with three creatures. Sai this is also to practice your control with multiple creatures. Increase by two each time she deletes them."

Her eyes were usually so determined that they could rival Rock Lee's. But her gaze softened into some sort of longing as she cast her eyes onto Sai. This of course did not go unnoticed. By neither Tenten nor Sakura.

They shared an interested glance and formed plans and theories in their minds. Tenten was somewhat relieved to see the last scene; it relieved her to know that Yumeko had something for Sai too. She might have a chance of beating her to Neji.

""Tenten-san and Neji can you just wait here while I set some things up."

Sakura and Sai took their cue and left.

The weapon mistress and Byakugan master stole glances at each other, with no communication. Their last talk on their minds.

"Ano…" Tenten said, breaking the silence. Neji reacted straight away, sighing out of relief. Tenten took this as a sigh of annoyance and was quick to apologize.

"Iie I mean…" Neji said trying to clear it up. However Tenten knew what he was going to say, they knew each other more than well enough.

She shook her head to dismiss his words.

"So what did you want to ask?" Neji asked Tenten. His pale eyes followed Yumeko's movements. She was setting up a hundred and twenty, he estimated, centimeter rods, which she held up using chakra.

"What…" Tenten began before pausing.

"What…exactly is she to you?" she asked, voice strangely even. This was unfitting her usual hyper attitude.

"I…can't tell you." He said simply. 'Until she is ready to tell you everything…gomen Tenten' he thought.

"Oh…"

With that, Tenten's senses collapsed. Overridden by her emotions. Her head hung low. A roar infiltrated their hearing.

Tenten still was oblivious.

A flash of pink and black passed, a monstrous sized paw followed the figure. The claws were pin pointed where the pink and black had been a few seconds ago, on Tenten. Sai cried:

"WATCH OUT!" he stood from his seating position.

Sakura screamed and turned away. Her scream drew everyone's attention.

Tenten's mind had barely began to process those sounds when she was pulled, forehead first into a hard chest. She stumbled half a step back, but still in the hold of her newly registered savoir.

A shadow flickered through the room.

Everyone returned to their own sparring when they saw their friend was ok.

"Baka!" Neji scowled.

"You should learn to be like Yumeko, never let your senses drop!" his voice was faintly raised, scarcely noticeable. Tenten flinched, from his tone of voice, but also a cut that just split open on her cheek.

"Baka." He repeated.

"The claw…" he lowered his voice. Tenten looked up expectantly.

"It would…" he paused, considering his words.

"It would have hurt you" and she was not disappointed.

"Five words." She said in her usual voice. She ignored the cut, blaming it on Sai's liger.

They exchanged a smile, sharing a privet joke.

Neji inhaled a sharp intake of breath. A cut identical to Tenten's bloomed on Neji's cheek. Others around the room visibly winced as well, except Gaara who supported no just cut.

Yumeko Spoke, voice once again void of emotion.

"Don't let your guard down." She said, heart heavy. She spiked a candle in place on the holder. She was in the corner that hosted the miniature kunai, which now hung on her pinky by the ring.

Naruto growled. He didn't like to see the droplet of crimson that stained Hinata's visage. It was like red paint split on an otherwise perfectly clean stretched canvas.

"Wasn't that a little harsh just for checking if your friend was alright?" Naruto exclaimed, scowling.

"No." Yumeko said without looking at any of them. Facing the corner she was setting up the candle in, her arms dropped to her side.

"There is a chance you will die; a high chance, for all of us. He is, undoubtedly as fast, if not, faster than I am." She wiped off her kunai.

"It wouldn't have taken much to angle the kunai and lower it to have slit your throats." Deathly silence followed. Fear and newfound respect crawled their way into the impression they had of their ANBU captain.

"Promise me," she said turning around. She stared at them with pained eyes.

"You will not leave your post or abandon your duty if anyone dies. When you do that, you sacrifice everyone's life, you will lose more than you already have lost. He, will not hesitate to kill you." She finished bluntly. The people listening could only nod numbly.

Yumeko sighed and gathered everyone in a circle.

"Tomorrow we will continue, same partners, same exercises." She sounded to mature for her age. It pained everyone in the group, including Gaara to see such an innocent naïve face so distressed.

"I'm guessing no one is in the mood for anymore training. We'll go and get some dinner together, How's that?" a loud shout of 'Ichiraki Ramen' greeted the young kunoichi's words. They stood up and filed out of the room. Yumeko slid the doors closed as the others waited on the stair well beneath. She locked the doors with a seal. She whispered to herself quietly.

"I haven't let anyone die yet…if we're lucky… none of you will be the first."

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Naruto stood slowly, body aching. Hinata had once again dispelled his clones. She knelt beside him and began to reopen his Tenkutsu points. They walked side by side to their young captain.

"Fifty clones complete." They reported.

Yumeko let the information sink in. 'they are coming along well.' She thought. They had taken just ten minutes when Naruto started with ten clones. When they added ten more, the time doubled. When they added ten more, the time increased to thirty minutes. From then on, the time has increased by only a few minutes each time. She checked her watch as that thought. 'Naruto's defense has improved, Hinata is getting better as the time increase is smaller.'

"Try just ten more clones once more please." She requested. She wanted to test her theory. The two left.

She trained her eyes on Neji and Tenten. Neji was working on his blind spot, while Tenten was given a quarter if the right wall's weapons to work with. She was told to work on controlling a lot more weapons.

The ANBU captain had polished the floorboards last night after their trip, so they got better grip. Gaara's sand cushioned the area Neji and Tenten were sparring in. Yumeko did not want her floor damaged by the clubs and maces she lent the weapon mistress.

All the screens were open. The fresh forest air flew in, passing the balcony that framed the fifth floor. The sun was almost over the small side view they had over the peaceful village of Konoha.

'Everyone's worked hard, I'll treat them to dinner again ne?" she decided. She then focused on the remaining two groups.

Kankuro had gotten sick of been held in gigantic hands then rendered unable to move then knocked unconscious, so one of his puppets took his place. Ino just aimed but didn't use the jutsu. They worked on speed and accuracy.

The two older sand siblings wandered around the other groups. Gaara was snoozing nicely on a cane chair on the balcony, his older siblings sneaked up on him, shaving cream in hand.

'Oh this will get interesting, interestingly ugly.' The young kunoichi thought, smirking. 'I can just imagine the older siblings begging for mercy… ah… we'll watch the result later.' With that she turned to the last pair, Sakura and Sai.

After the kunoichi had gotten used to the beasts the shinobi created, Yumeko added one more rule, she has to go around healing everyone's injuries. They were just small and quick jobs that she had to do while still fighting. This worked on her speed and endurance.

Sai had really nothing to work on after he attacked Sakura with a dozen large felines.

'I will need to talk to him soon, and 'nii-chan too.' Yumeko made a mental note to herself. Naruto bounded back, Hinata trailing behind him.

'12:13pm' five minutes since she sent them away.

"Alright mina, we'll break up for lunch them meet for dinner at the barbeque restaurant at seven then we'll come back here." Yumeko instructed, everyone uttered words of relief and begun to stretch and exit the room.

"Mendokuse ne" and so Shikamaru and his group made their way to the door, sand gushed back into the gourd. Naruto and Hinata close behind with Sakura and Tenten.

"I'll help pack up the rest. I haven't done as much as everyone else." Sai said. Everyone paused at the door, stared, and then focused on getting food. Neji glared at Sai through over protective, suspicious narrowed eyes.

Silence then followed his exit.

"Ah…" Sai begun uncertainly.

"how have you been? He followed up with. He was nervous, his heart pounded against his ribcage. Sealed emotions began to flow from it like raging water. The wall of ice around the muscle began to crack under the strain of the flood of feelings. The strong current caused the small opening in which his friends had began to dig out, to widen. It worked at a faster pace than that of his friends. It was stronger, a deeper, warmer feeling.

"Uh… it has been a bit rocky, I've been graduated for about nine years… Just a year after you left."

…_To be continued…_

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Mina-everyone

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YAY HAPPY VALINTINES DAY!!

And

FILLERS ARE ENDING!!

So to celebrate the fillers ending… I'm going to have 2200 words in this chapter!! XD

Oh and thanks YOTS AND YOTS to **JenniferPlague** for the beginning of this chapter!! Lol the Kakashi bit … XP

Thank you so much for everyone that reviewed!! I'm in a happy mood as … Chinese New Year is coming up!! And I'm going to see some one I'm missing!! And the fillers are ending and I can't wait to see Neji Sai and Sasuke!! **Drools with 3 shaped eyes** YAY!! XD oh and did I mention happy valentines??? Lol love to everyone who was single like me!! Lol I told my friend to get me flowers… but she picked one from her garden… I got a flower in the end… then I gave it to the nice little patch of grass that I just happened to have found beside me… I am so blabbing right now but I am happy XD ok please review if you are reading this and if your not reading this review too please because I might not update for ages if you don't… this was a pretty ok kind of prompt update but I know you want it faster!! Lol thank you to people who are reading and I lub yew all .

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Signing off

_Kawaii Kunoichi_


	5. a fake smile

Gomen! This chapter has been coming along rather slow… I had a few assignments due and etc… well here is the next chapter! Have fun reading!!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuuden, if you want to use any ideas feel free! But just tell me …

_**Recap:**_

"_I'll help pack up the rest. I haven't done as much as everyone else." Sai said. Everyone paused at the door, stared, and then focused on getting food. Neji glared at Sai through over protective, suspicious narrowed eyes. _

_Silence then followed his exit._

"_Ah…" Sai begun uncertainly._

"_How have you been?" He followed up with. He was nervous, his heart pounded against his ribcage. Sealed emotions began to flow from it like raging water. The wall of ice around the muscle began to crack under the strain of the flood of feelings. The strong current caused the small opening in which his friends had begun to dig out, to widen. It worked at a faster pace than that of his friends. It was stronger, a deeper, warmer feeling._

"_Uh… it has been a bit rocky, I've been graduated for about nine years… Just a year after you left."_

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**CHAPTER 5: a fake smile…**

Her answer evoked the previously neglected feeling he had for the girl standing before him.

"I've … missed you?" Sai said uncertainly.

He had heard his fellow ANBU members say the seemingly simple phrase. When he asked Sakura and Naruto about missing someone…

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_Naruto scratched his short blonde head._

"_When someone you care about goes away… you… miss them," he said vaguely._

_Sakura twitched and took Naruto's head between her chakra charged fists and grinded them against his temples._

"_Missing someone literally means someone who holds a place in your heart goes away. So you don't see or hear of them for a while." She elaborated on Naruto's answer, leaving the yellow head to nurse his head._

"_When you don't see them, it leaves a hole where they use to be and you feel uncomfortable, sad and perhaps lonely._

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'She also said it usually was just a thing that wasn't too deep, but that hurt nevertheless.' He thought.

Somehow, the missing feeling he harboured for HER ran deeper than what Sakura had told him. His heart felt as if it was frozen numb when they parted.

Yumeko smiled at his attempt.

"Me too, but I am not quite the person I was when you left." Of course by that she didn't mean anything in particular. But Sai took it differently.

"Oh…so… lets forget the past and those… feelings." He said as a half question. Both their hearts dropped, shattered. Both their pride got in the way of taking what they said back.

"I…ah…Hn" she confirmed with a nod. She looked away, to see anything but his face, to show the blood that was rushing to her eyes, the cruel redness enforcing tears. But no. She would not cry. Not in front of him. Not when she promised him, in this same room ten years ago.

She cleared her throat and forced herself to smile at him.

'A fake smile' Sai noted, something he knew all to well.

"Ano…what happened to you and Sakura-san?" she asked trying not to sound too interested.

"That was just something that's all over now, she was just trying to replace Sasuke, and I…" he clamped his mouth shut after the 'I', he wasn't going to tell her, not after that conversation they just had.

Yumeko decided to end the uncomfortable atmosphere. She could see he was reluctant to say whatever Sakura meant to him. And that fact stung, like salt on a fresh wound. But she was not the kind of person that would neglect Sakura after all this.

"Well its good to see you safe." With that she gave him a hug, which was returned without hesitation.

She breathed in his scent of oil paints. Diluted smells of metal, strong enough to be smelt, gentle enough to never cause you a headache. But behind the paint was his scent; it was sweeter than a peach blossom, to her at least. Yes it had been so long.

The two Konoha shinobi both knew the feelings that resided in their hearts for the other would never be forgotten, only suppressed. Their feelings shall be buried, lay untouched under blankets of snow and ice. Until spring comes again…

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"-Because it is always better to overestimate your opponents that underestimate them." Yumeko explained.

"Lets just pretend that he was so fast that you could not see him, and could not hear him before it was too late. This is with just normal eyes of course." She motioned towards the Hyuuga's.

"So I'm going to alter our training. The room will be submerged in Genjutsu. Please don't dispel it, or else I'm going to…cry…" she was going to say something else, but after that conversation with Sai and their long catch up session before dinner. She felt like crying, she just needed a good excuse.

The sun indicated it was the same time as yesterday, when they had sat in a circle in the center of the very same dojo room.

'She sounds so sullen.' Neji noted with his brotherly instincts.

They came up to the dojo to find Yumeko and Sai for dinner. They found them sitting together below the weapons. Kind of leaning on each other, to Neji's distaste. The two were so caught up that they hadn't noticed the rather large group's presence, which was slack for shinobi of their level and abilities. Bit Neji cut their catch up session short. His over protectiveness had cause his murder intent to flare.

He knew she could take care of herself no problem, especially against just one subordinate. I mean, she was sannin, Akatsuki leveled! Of course she could take Sai on. They were all below the legendary level, but not by much. And so it made them all the more surprised that Sasuke had killed Itachi, with Orochimaru's help.

"Gaara-sama. Onegai shimasu." She requested, nodding at the Kazekage. He replied with his own nod and sand begun pouring onto the wooden floors.

"Kokuangyou no Jutsu!"

And so Yumeko cast the room into a dark void. She then cast a silencing jutsu when she could hear people beginning their respective tasks.

She registered each of their chakra signatures.

'Each person despite having the same blue chakra, all have different patterns in which they flow and work, like a person's fingerprints, they are all unique.' She thought.

'They need to discover this for themselves, this can't be taught.'

One blue signature made their way to her.

"Naruto" she acknowledged without making a sound.

He stopped at her left arm and tapped out on her ANBU tattoo: 'Is this way of seeing people who use chakra what you wanted to show us?'

'Hai. Your time was one minute thirty four seconds.' She tapped back of his tattoo. Yumeko studied the flow of Hinata's chakra form.

'Byakugan. Hina-chan gets more of an advantage because she can see through this genjutsu. Although seeing chakra signatures not other than just chakra forms, she still is used to the concept.' She then flicked Naruto's Konoha tattoo in dismissal.

ANBU tattoos were designed to create a delicate, very sensitive spot in the center. This makes communicating easy in harsh conditions, you would still feel it is your arm was numb or in turmoil. Its sensitivity decreased the chance of misinterpreting a Morse code.

She saw Naruto's signature run back then pausing before dancing with another chakra signature.

'Hina-chan' she thought with a smile.

'A dozen more times for them then we'll finish for the day. After some details, I haven't filled 'nii-chan and Tenten-san in yet…' she made a mental note to her self as Naruto came back again after two minutes.

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After two hours, she stopped everyone. The circle reformed in the center of the room. She had lifted the silencing jutsu but had yet not lifted the genjutsu. Neji and Tenten came and sat down they had just been sparring as they usually did, except focusing on Neji's blind spot and disarming Tenten.

They always seemed to finish with a laughing Tenten pinned to the wall or the ground by a smirking Neji. Their conversation seemed to be behind them.

"Alright I have been thinking about teams. I have stuck with the four-man squadron template. I spent all night talking with Shikamaru to figure this plan out." A blond and two dark haired people winced at the 'all night' and the lack of a formal suffix on the end.

"We will travel in three squadrons, although it will be barely effective other than traveling. Meaning there is no need to sleep in your teams and or gather information in them. The first team will be the first line of defense and the locating team. The second is just a combat team and the third is a follow up and finish of the job team in case the first two teams can't handle the enemies."

"In team one, Naruto-san" the said person perked up.

"Hinata-" his cerulean eyes sparkled.

"Neji and Tenten-san" Smiles grazed the last two people's faces.

"You are the navigation, search team. Also perhaps with the strongest, under certain conditions. I tried to keep the teams as similar to the original three-man cells as possible, I made changes of course." Meaning Naruto and Hinata.

"team two, is the original three-nin cell of Shikamaru, Ino-san and Choji-san, with Temari-san. I wanted to make good use of your formation, well we did." Yumeko said looking as Shikamaru.

"Temari was put there on special request." She finished in a sly tone. Looking, this time, pointedly, at the brunette shinobi.

"Then team three, Sakura-san to be able to heal the wounded. Sai, old team mate. Kankuro-san, he looks KAWAII!" she squealed.

"And me." She added as a side note.

"We decided to put Sakura with the strongest, well under normal conditions." She said that not in a conceited fashion. She saw the pink-haired kunoichi wince.

"it is not because you are the weakest. We need you and your chakra for healing, not fighting. Your training with Sai has improved your stamina and chakra reserves, it should reach twice what it was in a few more days. As you know we have six more days. We need to make the most of it."

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Yumeko sat in her cobalt blue room, and leaned against her bed. She flicked through the profile folder she was given for this mission. She stopped at Sai. She fingered the photo in the top left corner.

'Ten years…' she thought.

'I thought I would comply perfectly with that accursed rule of been utterly stoic at all times, when you left. I really did… comply flawlessly for ten years. And now you step into my line of vision, still perfect, still the only person to bend me to your will…still the person I…' she shook her head to try and rid of her thoughts.

'No matter how hard you try, you always distracted me on missions, why would you? You were never there… but maybe that's why… because you were never there for me to be sure … of … everything…' she bit her lip. She savoured the warm metallic liquid. It soothed her, calmed her pulsing nerves.

'I need to check on the others. Everyone has feelings for another, it will only lead to death, I have to erase them… or at least suppress…' she decided

'For the time been…' she added as she remembered her own feelings.

'But as Shikamaru said: "its better seeing them and know you can be there than having them in another team where they become a constant distraction as you worry about their safety." And he's right…' she noted bitterly.

She flung her head back in frustration.

'No more, I need to see everyone and talk.'

She made her way to Shikamaru's room. she entered after knocking briefly. A few subordinates were asking for advice, but bowed and scurried out of the beige room once they spotted who had come in.

"Yumeko-sa-" Shikamaru acknowledged standing up. Then the very person he was addressing cut him off.

"-Chan or none at all." She insisted firmly.

"Shika-nii-chan. I wanted to talk to you." She paused, shooting needles through the wooden door at the subordinates listening from the stair well. They once again scurried off. Yumeko surveyed the damage, then sighed.

"what do you feel for her?" she asked bluntly. The abruptness of her question shocked him.

"Do you love her? Just as a friend of what?" she pushed on.

He opened and closed his mouth, his spikes tipping back and forth. She smiled at the sight.

"You don't need to tell me, it maybe better for me to remain oblivious, what I don't know won't hurt me. But it is a different case for you, it could hurt her, and everyone else…" Yes, they had discussed more than just teams last night.

She left him to think. Before she slipped out the door, she saw him get into his thinking position.

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_To be continued…_

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Yes I realize this is progressing rather slowly and I know you just want to go on the mission and find Sasuke and maybe bring him back. **BUT! **There is still more character interactions and getting to know people conversations and such to go through before they can go on the mission! And there maybe just a little bit of perverted-ness later on… maybe to the extent of a little lime but probably no lemon… this doesn't seem like that sort of fanfic to me so… yeah…

Oh and KIZUNA means bonds if you didn't know… well if I didn't mention it before. Onegai shimasu is the polite way to ask or help … kind of… and I think I should put a list of suffixes and terms:

-**Sama **more formal than calling someone –san, kind of like a lord –whatever- in English, very formal, but a little bit less formal that lord.

**-San** supposedly a polite formal suffix for older women but also used for men someone you don't know that well.

**-Kun **suffix for a boy that's a friend.

**-Chan **a suffix for a girl that's a friend, its less polite and more friendly than addressing someone as –san.

**-NONE-** the most important thing to note about this is it means you are close to that person, closer than chan or Kun, in other words, closer than having to be polite.

Yumeko calls Gaara 'Gaara-sama' because he is a kage. How well you know people and perhaps even how long or what kind of relationship two people have can be deducted from how two people address each other.

ANYWAY! Enough blabbing! As always, suggestions are VERY welcome!!

Please review!! I am a 'developing' author and so would appreciate comments and feed back!!

Arigato!!

_Kawaii Kunoichi_


	6. reposted! Irony

Recap:

_**Recap:**_

"_What do you feel for her?" she asked bluntly. The abruptness of her question shocked him._

"_Do you love her? Just as a friend of what?" she pushed on._

_He opened and closed his mouth, his spikes tipping back and forth. She smiled at the sight._

"_You don't need to tell me, it maybe better for me to remain oblivious, what I don't know won't hurt me. But it is a different case for you, it could hurt her, and everyone else…" Yes, they had discussed more than just teams last night._

_She left him to think. Before she slipped out the door, she saw him get into his thinking position._

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**Chapter 6: irony**

She walked down to the Kyuubi vessel's room after a brief chat to Choji. She didn't notice much emotional attachment from him to any female in particular.

Maybe Ino, but they were teammates.

She knocked on the door. After a few seconds of shuffling, a crash was heard.

Then the door opened to reveal a Naruto with a big lump on his head.

The door creaked and cracked further as she entered and it swung shut after her.

She sweat-dropped.

The splinters were still attached so she deemed the cause of the crash to be when her

blonde subordinate crashed into the door.

She believed in equality greatly, something passed down from her mother, her two uncles and her two older cousins. "Naruto-nii-san, why do you want this so badly?" Naruto sighed. It had all been asked many times before.

"Naruto," he corrected. "

"Or if you feel the need, a not so formal one please." He added.

In Asian countries, it was not uncommon to call any relatives or friends even 'sister' or 'brother' in respect, hence Yumeko calling 'nii or 'nee.'

"nii-chan…" Yumeko's voice hardened in warning.

"I don't know…?" he began.

"Its different to feelings for Iruka and Kakashi they're like my family, along with Sakura, and him. I loved Sakura-chan, or so I thought. It hurt every time she ignored, yelled and hit me. But it turned into fun teasing after a while. She was like ah…white." He said staring and passing his fingers back and forth through the scented candle that burnt in a short, glass bottle.

"It had always seemed so perfect; nothing was tainted, spilt on the spotless sheet of paper. A perfect platonic dream. I suppose I never did know what platonic love is…maybe I do now. But it wasn't what I thought it was. When Sasuke-teme left. The whiteness of my dream had seemed out of place. It was just a simple illusion. Mismatched, misplaced, misunderstood."

It was expected from Naruto. A colourful creative way of describing his confused thoughts and emotions. She had expected him to not hold back like Shikamaru, Naruto was renowned for his gift of trust.

"But everyone else was like… red. My hand never trembles in excitement of seeing you. But he is like blue, a light dainty blue, but white-like." His voice was swollen with confusion mingled with a chuckle at Sasuke being dainty.

"I…don't know. A platonic dream, perhaps…a dream to have him back…But not quite, he's like a jewel, and the colour in him is an imperfection. But it's the imperfection that makes it unique, different, valuable…But…what…is…it?" He asked himself and the younger girl.

"Obvious isn't it?" she muttered under her breath.

Naruto was not thick enough not to know what he was meant so hear and what he isn't meant to hear. His ears did pick up what his new captain said. But he didn't react; what she said just confused him more.

'WHAT IS IT?!' he so badly wanted to ask. But he restrained himself.

'I'm sorry; you have to figure it out for yourself, for her sake, and for the same of everyone else…'

"Have a good sleep, you'll need it…" with that Yumeko left the blonde to ponder over his vanilla essence candle.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"'Nii-chan and Sai." She muttered as she decided to visit Neji first.

She rapped her knuckles against the door. No one answered, so she just went straight in.

"Oh, gomen ne Neji-nii." She laughed sheepishly after seeing him meditating. Neji opened one eye and smiled. Tenten just happened to be passing by as she entered Neji's quarters.

"Even meditating comes after you in priorities." He said to… Tenten couldn't tell who it was as the angle of the door limited her sight. The weapon specialist couldn't believe her ears. Not even she or even Lee dared to disturb Neji when he was meditating.

After hearing sounds of a deep intake of breath, she heard the girl talk again and recognized the voice.

"You still smell the same." 'Yumeko' Tenten noted.

"Neeji-nii, I wanna ask you something…" Yumeko whined in a childish voice. Tenten merely dismissed the 'nii as she heard her call all the other shinobi the same thing. A thump made her turn her attention back from her thoughts. The two where sitting on the couch, Neji leaning against the wall and Yumeko head rested on his lap.

Tenten recalled one of Neji's lectures on the benefits on meditation when he tried to teach Lee and herself. '_To achieve the best relaxation, I usually have on a pair of loose training pants only. This achieves freedom from the drag and confinement of clothes…lada lada la_.' At that time, she had tried her hardest to resist looking at the Hyuuga, in fear of not being able to look away.

Now she can almost feel the blood crawling down her nostrils. His skin was at least three shades paler than her own tanned skin tone. It was smooth, except over the glitches of his abs. His milk pale skin glowed in the light. It radiated like the skin of a pregnant mother. Tenten mustered all her will and turned away. Now she could understand how Hinata felt about Naruto.

A rustle of material made her turn back. Half expecting Neji's bare upper body to be covered, she found the opposite. She noticed, instead, the absence of the younger kunoichi's top; she was only wearing the ANBU singlet that was custom made for ANBU kunoichi.

"Its too hot a night to be wearing this" he said as he cradled the girl's cheeks.

"I've missed you; you must tell me what happened." Neji demanded softly, worry was engraved in those mauve orbs.

"Me too. But I have to go talk to Sai like this-" she paused to see if there was any change in Tenten's chakra signature. Of course she noticed her sempai's presence.

She stared hard into his eyes, then looked at the door and then mouthed 'GO'.

The light that was associated with Tenten's chakra signature moved away and dimmed. The usual vibrant glow was replaced with a somber dull ray signaling her distress and weeping condition.

"I used 'nii as many times as I could I swear…" Yumeko said, looking downcast. She didn't know what possessed her to be 'showy' displaying the fact that they were close. She now regretted the immature gesture.

"Gomen Nasai… I'll go and explain…" she told him in a small voice. Talking to her was fine, just the fact that she would have to recalled memories of THOSE days terrified her.

"No don't, your not ready," Neji patted her head. Getting up, he made his way to the door. He turned to catch the shirt flung towards him and gave the captain a questioning glance.

"It would help… maybe…" she replied with a hint of cheek.

"Good luck talking with Sai. I also know why you came, she's something special, like you, Hinata and Hanabi." He said meaning his old team mate. He chucked her own top back to her.

"But different…" with that he exited his suite.

'If only she was here to hear that…funny how ironic life is isn't it.' She closed the door after her and made her way to the final living suite she planned to visit. 'irony's the only thing that has ever accompanied their relationship, just making more problems with the two people most conservative about their own emotions…maybe that's how it will always be for them, pure emotion, pure irony…'

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

For the fourth time that day, she knocked on someone else's door.

"Hn" came the reply. She took that as a yes and pushed open the door gently. She slid through, head first to discover Sai in the same situation as she found Neji in. But her own reaction was different. She had felt no urge to blush with Neji, but here, staring at her childhood sweet heart, her face flushed.

His dark hair contrasted against his rather pale skin. His fair skin stretched over the curves created by his abs. he opened an eye to look at her, a mixture of emotions passed between them before they snapped back to their usual facades. Her blush was visible to Sai. He smirked and remembered their little games.

"Like what you see?" he said huskily, flickering out then in behind her. Yumeko's head snapped up in surprise, she had let her guard down and was trapped with Sai's arms snaking around her waist.

"Oh Very much so…" she caught his drift. She broke his hold on her and turned around, placing his hands lower and winding her own arms around his neck. They both knew they could only that these little games so far. But as his onyx pools bore into hers, she forgot all self control. Caught up in the moment, they both leant in. closing the gap with lust and old feelings flicked in and out of their eyes.

"Ahem…" someone coughed from the open door. The two younger ninjas both flushed and repulsed from each other like magnets of the same pole.

Yumeko's eyes widened and gasped.

"Neji-nii!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Tenten-nee-chan!"

"See-" Neji begun. "I wouldn't lie to you." He proved his point to Tenten and she finally stopped half heartedly struggling and let his arms and head rest on her shoulders from behind her.

"But I think it's someone's bed time…" he trailed off, giving the girl in the room a pointed stare.

"But I think your captain is going to order you to not treat her like she's 5 years old!" she retaliated.

"Just for tonight" she begged, after seeing Neji slightly taken a back.

He glared at Sai, warning him as veins begun to extend out to his eyes. The target shivered inwardly, still exposing no emotion what so ever. But after catching sight of Yumeko's puppy eyes he gave up.

The elder Hyuuga sighed and begun steering Tenten towards her room, muttering

"Fine let it be our bedtime then."

A silence filled the space. Both had millions of thought congested like rush traffic in their brains. Most of them screaming 'THAT WAS TOO CLOSE' and 'NEVER PISS A HYUUGA OFF.'

"So… do you still have feelings for Sakura?" this question took Sai by surprise. Their talk from that afternoon still fresh in their minds.

"Well I ah… meant, it could distract you from the mission," she added.

"So I just came to tell you to either sort those you have for her, or forget them until after the mission. Just those feelings for her, I don't think you like anyone else more than friends?" she asked.

"I'm definitely not interested for personal reasons…." She muttered as an after note to try to reassure herself.

To save herself from further embarrassment, fled before the blush could sweep across her face.

She felt like crying, releasing the emotional dam she created herself. He was the best thing that happened to her in their early years. Even more so than Neji being there. She endured all the bullying in the ANBU orphanage that came with being his 'someone special', at that time anyway. She never cried, because he always ended up knowing she was in trouble. She had a Hinata like personality at that time and was scared of what she would do if she attacked back so she never did. She had become HIS damsel in distress, and she hated and loved it. Having him protecting her was something she craved and detested. The feeling of comfort and security was bliss. But the vulnerability killed her. She believed females were just as good as males if not better.

Now she's older he turned out to be the thing that ruined the perfectly enclosed world she had built with out any pain… but no, she still valued him like she used to. The light in her darkness. No she would not cry, because he told her never to shed a tear. So she won't.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

He wet his lips with his tongue. He could taste the faint essence of her.

'I do need to sort my feelings out. But not those that were never there in the first place, not those feelings that I had being trying to fill the gaping holes with…' his fingers brushed his lips where he yearned her touch again. They felt like ice on his blazing lips.

'I need to sort my feelings, but not for Sakura…'

_Ironic, their stubbornness turns into … irony…_


	7. kazoku

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I'm soo sorry about this short chapter! and knowing it was soo long before i actually updated TT gomen ne

**PLEASE GO BACK AND REREAD CHPT 6 & N.O.T.E that all pairings are changed  
**

significant changes to it

please enjoy

disclaimer: do not own, wish did own

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-Yawn- Naruto came into the room behind Hinata.

"Alright, I think we should have the day off. But from then on, we will be full, hard out training. So that will be from after dinner tonight." Various surprised, understanding noises were uttered.

Naruto attempted a grunt half way between astonishment and acceptance. Yumeko laughed innocently at the sound before getting back to what she was saying.

"Oh…yeah…Today, go visit your families and get supplies, oh and get a few casual outfits that can be used for battle if needed, we need to pass through towns to collect information." She tossed them each a bag of money.

"There's more than enough for…two outfits each, breakfast, lunch, dinner, food on the way and a few new weapons or weapon accessories. "She noticed the look in Naruto's eyes.

"It's only sufficient for breakfast and lunch at Ichiraku's." she turned back to everyone.

"Well, it is your last chance to see family before we go, we might be away for 6 months or a year. Make the most of it with family. "

"Are you coming home?" Neji asked Yumeko.

Hinata nodded frantically to try and encourage her.

"No, it's not home, and they -" Yumeko said.

"- wouldn't want me there." The Hyuugas exchanged pained smiles.

"I'm going to go see my parents then Kurenai- Sensei and little Chiyo-chan." Shikamaru decided.

"Me too." Choji said,

"Nn" Ino and Hinata agreed. "I haven't seen her in months!" The blonde cried out.

Life in ANBU was secluded. Only a few family and/or friend visits a year.

Not even funerals were usually permitted for access to the village and beyond. It surprised everyone that this chance was granted so easily.

"They had gone out a few times." Sai noted, his onyx eyes narrowed in thought.

"This maybe our last chance ne?" Sakura said, voicing Sai's next depressing thought.

Outside passes were usually approved through the head captain. Everyone in the room was a captain; Yumeko is the head captain that was superior to the division captains.

The others were ranked below Yumeko, but each had a few squadrons of ANBU agents working under them. But not all the captains were being sent on this mission. Kiba and Shino were staying. To avoid the wrath of dogs and bugs, they had been sent on missions until they leave in four days time.

Lee remained a regular Jounin, following in the steps of his Gai-sensei. But he could have made the elite group even with his 'disabilities'.

"We should go visit Lee and Gai sensei." Neji stated were than suggested.

"Hai!" Tenten said brightly.

"Who's Chiyo?" Yumeko asked suddenly.

A tension built up.

"Sarutobi A -" Choji began, but his words withered in his throat.

"Oh." Yumeko said, knowing the rest and accepted the answer. She tapped her right foot on the sand free floor and went to close all the doors that over looked the balcony,

"Let's met at the PSB restaurant for lunch." She suggested, waltzing back to the catter of the room. "I want to see Chiyo." She requested shyly.

* * *

Yumeko sat on top of the Hokage tower, watching over the village, more specifically her subordinates. She scrummed up her face at the word.

"No, I'd prefer friends, hopefully it will be that way soon. " Temari, due to being a shopiholic and not shopping in konoha often, had stacked and filled both her aniki and Shikamaru's arms with bags, and 'necessities'.

Ino resorted to using choji once her arms had become tired: he was forced to carry them using baika-no-jutsu.

Sakura only carried a few packages.

Tenten had brought a lot of weapons as well as the clothes that were asked of them. She had sets of Kunnai, shuriken and needles. The weapon mistress was respired to start her own wall collection after seeing the fifth floor dojo.

Tenten leaned against a lamp post, she called everyone to a stop for a rest. She carried ten boxes of weaponry and three bags of other things she was asked to buy.

Neji stared at her. He knew he won't be allowed to touch the weapons. So he approached his best female friend detached the bags from her arms. The girl smiled gratefully.

"Why didn't you take her wea-" Naruto was silenced by Tenten's flared murder defend and Neji's glare.

Soon Naruto was back to normal and was carrying Hinata's bags. Neji eyes his former team mate. She strained under the ten boxes she carried. He had decided he'd seen enough of her tired frown. He walked in front of her, ignored her protests and pouts and picked up 7 of her boxes and walk on.

The brunet kunoichi fumed "If I wasn't carrying these…"she thought glaring at his back. Then she sighed, knowing she could trust him with them. The shinobi saw Neji retract his Byakugan after seeing Tenten relax. A very playful smirk then dominated their Hyuuga friend's face. As the girl chatted behind them, Choji, Shikamaru, Naruto and Sai caught on to what Neji was thinking. Naruto fell behind Neji, the plan was to pretend to trip Neji and see Tenten get angry and protective with her weapons.

But Naruto's plans always had flaws.

Naruto held out his food and folded a tap to the back of Neji's foot, but because the timing was somehow screwed up, he did tap his senpai's foot. Naruto, realising his mistake, quickly used Kage Bunshin to catch the falling boxes. Neji as his cheek scraped against the ground.

"Neji!" Tenten screamed in a strange voice. Caught between worry and anger. She seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second before disposing of her luggage and running to Neji's side.

He stood up, brushed off his robes and fingered his graze.

She forced his hand away, then using her index and middle finger, applied green healing chakra to his insignificant wound. All kunoichi were required to have some basic medical Jutsu, healing cuts and small/minor injuries. He muttered an inaudible 'arigato' only for her ears.

"Why don't we visit everyone's relatives as a group, we can go to the Hyuuga compound first then meet up with Yumeko-chan, she didn't seem to keen on going there."

"But knowing her, she might be watching us right now." Sai said to himself, and cast a look to the mountains that concealed the ANBU head quarters. And so they retraced the familiar road to the Hyuuga's quarters.

* * *

Yumeko quietly watched.

She would have loved to go with them. In ANBU, trust and respect was given immediately to your superiors, there was no doubt. But they were not just doing as the rule book states; they were friends, well, almost there anyway.

One could not be surprised how friendly they were, even Tenten, but the problems resolved by themselves easily.

She craved their company. Having never had stability, she wanted her friends. She knew that she would only have to ask, but she didn't want to worry them, especially Neji.

The past isn't something she could ignore easily, but it makes her apart of who she is… that's what Sai told her. He didn't have a past as much, he revelled in the fact that she did, not needing to suffer the same pain of not knowing about yourself. A relationship with Sai was not normal, far from it… that's why its so easy to settle into something that came so naturally to only them, her fondest memories of belonging. Yumeko, had a family. But she didn't think so.

Her family was Neji… it once included Sai.

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tbc--

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NO fear

this story shall continue.

thank you for the great constructive feedback. very well appreciated!

exams soon TT

but that not mean to be an excuse

very sorry this was soo short :(

will do better next time :)

R&R please

ty

kk.

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